This invention relates to an event programming guide, and more particularly to an event programming guide for scheduling and retrieving items on a video display including a virtual analog clock interface disposed on the video display and using an item selection feature to access the item.
The use of the computer in scheduling events and activities has increased in recent years. The downsizing of the computer from the conventional desk top models to such models as hand-held has proliferated the use of the computer in event programming. Numerous software programs and techniques exist as an item selection using a computer feature to select an event for programming, moving cursor, pen-based, a touch ball, and even a mouse. Even computer touch screen display technology has been used in scheduling and retrieving items as an event programming technique. In spite of the teachings of the aforementioned, there is still a significant need for an event programming technique with fast accessibility and high quality in scheduling and retrieving of the event items to promote effective time management.
The majority of timer interfaces that are used for event programming and scheduling are mentally and aesthetically cumbersome and lack the quality for accessibility of time events management that an everyday user now requires. It is needed to combine the ease of time of programming with an intuitive fast approach on a user friendly programming interface.
It is therefore a principle object of the present invention to provide an event programming guide for scheduling and retrieving items on a video display. The video display will include a virtual analog clock interface that will be used to access the events for scheduling and retrieving.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an event programming guide with improved event scheduling and retrieving accessibility for decreasing the time required in scheduling. This will improve the overall quality in the technique used for scheduling/retrieving an event for programming.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an event programming guide that will immediately appraise the user of his attempted entry and provide aesthetically pleasing multiple event schedules when requested.
Other objects and advantages will become apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings.
The present invention relates to an event programming guide for scheduling and retrieving items on a video display including a virtual analog clock interface disposed on the video display and using an item selection feature for scheduling and retrieving the items. The event programming guide comprises a virtual analog clock interface disposed on a video display. A window display is disposed on the video display and interposed with the virtual analog interface thus comprising a catalog of the items for scheduling and retrieving. A display interface medium facilitates activation of the item selection feature and includes both xe2x80x9cdrag/dropxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cpokexe2x80x9d techniques for manipulating the items on the video display.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the apparatus of the present invention comprises a video display including an analog clock interface having a clock face with associated hour and minute hands. The hour and minute hands are used to display current time and assistance in scheduling/retrieving the items of interest. The video display has touch screen technology as the item selection feature for invoking selection of the event of interest. The item of interest is tapped on the screen, dragged to a predetermined location, and dropped at that location corresponding to the selected event time. Fine-tuning of an event time may be facilitated by using a drag/drop technique with the hour and minute hands of the clock face. The coloring/width or some other attribute of the item of interest of the clock face, such as intermittent lines, may represent the duration of the items in time. Poking at a particular item on the video display will depict its event history such as time, occurrence, and frequency.